The murder scene from the opera “Otello” by Guiseppe Verdi, sung here by Charles Craig (Otello) and Elena Souliotis (Desdemona) in a 1969 performance recorded in Naples:
My favourite opera of all time, and an excellent rendering of the climactic scene from the final act here, as Desdemona pleads for her life in the face of an implacable, enraged, jealous Otello.
“Menuet Antique”, by Maurice Ravel, in the original piano arrangement:
The version arranged for full orchestra, as with all Ravel orchestrations, is also well worth a listen.
“Shéhérazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov, third movement, performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur:
The explosive final movement is also well worth a listen.
The final movement of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, performed here by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the excellent Esa-Pekka Salonen:
An excellent performance of a wonderful symphony. I find the tempo of the middle “chorale” theme, as introduced by the flutes accompanied by french horns, to be a little too broad – but otherwise I can’t fault this interpretation.
Shostakovich, Piano Concerto no. 2, Op, 102, 1st movement. Performed here by one of my favourite emerging pianists, Kirill Gerstein, accompanied by the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit:
Happy Friday, everyone!
Semi-Partisan Politics 